We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-10-09 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
If you want the longer battery life and USB-C convenience for your workout, choose Philips TAH4205; if you need a lighter on-ear headset with hands-free calling, voice assistant support and a swivel travel design, choose SONY Headphones WH-CH510.
• Philips TAH4205 — biggest strength: Up to 29 hours of playback with a 15-minute fast charge that gives you 4 hours of use, plus a bass boost button and USB-C charging.
• Philips TAH4205 — biggest trade-off: It's the heavier of the two at 150 g, and the on-ear, closed-back design relies on sound isolation rather than active noise cancellation.
• SONY Headphones WH-CH510 — biggest strength: Up to 35 hours of battery life, a swivel-flat design for easy packing, and a built-in mic for hands-free calls and voice assistant commands.
• SONY Headphones WH-CH510 — biggest trade-off: No headphone jack at all, a longer 4.5-hour charge time, and a 30mm driver that's smaller than the Philips 32mm unit.
• Who the Philips is for: Anyone who wants a bass-forward, USB-C on-ear headphone that survives long days and quick top-ups.
• Who the Sony is for: Anyone who lives on calls, wants voice assistant access, and needs something that folds flat in a bag.
The Philips TAH4205 is built around a simple idea: keep the music going for as long as possible, and let you top up fast when you forget. The 32mm neodymium dynamic drivers are paired with a dedicated bass boost button, so if your playlist leans toward hip-hop, EDM or anything with a heavy low end, you can push that forward with a single press. The closed-back on-ear design helps isolate you from the noise around you, which is exactly what you want when you're trying to hear the beat over a noisy gym or a busy commute.
Battery is the headline here. Philips rates it at up to 29 hours of playback, and the fast-charge feature gives you roughly 4 hours of listening from a 15-minute charge. In practice, that means a dead pair of headphones on your way out the door isn't a disaster — plug in while you lace your shoes and you're covered for the session. Charging is over USB-C, which is the same cable you probably already carry for your phone, so that's one less thing to think about. It also has a 3.5mm jack, so if the battery does run out you can still go wired.
The trade-offs are worth being honest about. At 150 g it's not featherweight, and the on-ear, closed-back approach means you're getting passive sound isolation, not active noise cancellation. There's no microphone listed for calls, so this is a listening-first pair rather than a meeting headset, despite the conferencing mention in its feature list. There's also a multifunctional control button handling volume and media, which keeps things simple once you learn the presses. In my opinion, this is the pick for the listener who cares about bass, battery and USB-C convenience more than call quality.
The Sony WH-CH510 goes the other direction. Sony rates it at up to 35 hours of playback, which edges out the Philips, and the 30mm dome drivers are tuned for a clean, detailed sound rather than a boosted low end. The big functional difference is the built-in microphone: this is a headset you can actually take calls on, with hands-free conversation and voice assistant commands straight from the earcups. If you spend your day jumping between music, phone calls and asking your assistant for directions or a quick search, that matters more than an extra few millimetres of driver.
The physical design is where Sony clearly thought about travel. The earcups swivel flat, so the whole thing slips into a bag or a suitcase without fighting for space. It's also considerably lighter than the Philips on paper, which is the kind of thing you appreciate on a long flight or a full day of wear. Charging is USB-C here too, and the quoted charge time is 4.5 hours for that full 35-hour tank.
The compromises: there's no headphone jack, so once the battery is gone you're done listening until you charge — no wired fallback. Charge time is also notably longer than the Philips fast-charge trick, so a 15-minute top-up won't rescue you the same way. And while Sony's feature list mentions smart noise cancellation, the spec sheet lists the noise control as active cancellation while the design is a plain on-ear plastic enclosure — so treat the isolation as modest rather than class-leading. In my opinion, this one is for the caller, the traveler and the voice-assistant user.
• Best for battery life → SONY Headphones WH-CH510. Up to 35 hours beats the Philips' 29-hour rating.
• Best for fast top-ups → Philips TAH4205. A 15-minute charge gets you about 4 hours of use; the Sony needs 4.5 hours for a full charge.
• Best for bass-heavy music → Philips TAH4205. The dedicated bass boost button and larger 32mm drivers are aimed at low-end punch.
• Best for phone calls and voice assistants → SONY Headphones WH-CH510. The built-in mic and voice control are the deciding features here.
• Best for packing and travel → SONY Headphones WH-CH510. The swivel-flat earcups and lighter build make it the easier one to throw in a bag.
• Best for workout sessions → Philips TAH4205. The fast charge, closed-back isolation and bass boost suit a gym bag better; if you'd rather have the lightest possible on-ear pair, the Sony is the alternative.
• Best for wired fallback → Philips TAH4205. It has a 3.5mm jack; the Sony has none.
• Best for USB-C charging on both → tie. Both charge over USB-C, so you can carry one cable for either pair.
If you're hunting for the best USB-C charging earphones for workout use, both of these qualify on the connector alone — the difference is what you want the rest of the headphone to do. And if you specifically want rotatable ear cups for easy packing, that's the Sony's swivel design, while the Philips answers with a flat-folding cushioned headband instead.
I'd buy the Philips TAH4205 for workout use and everyday listening. The combination of up to 29 hours of playback, a 15-minute fast charge that buys roughly 4 hours of music, the bass boost button and USB-C charging lines up almost perfectly with how people actually use headphones at the gym — unpredictable, rushed, and loud. The Sony WH-CH510 is the better headset if calls, voice assistants and flat-packing travel matter more to you than bass and fast charging, and I'd have no hesitation recommending it for that. But for the specific job of powering a workout without babysitting a charger, the Philips wins in my book. Check the current price on Amazon before you commit, since that's the one thing that can swing this either way.
For most people, the Philips. It has up to 29 hours of battery, a 15-minute fast charge for about 4 hours of use, a bass boost button and a closed-back on-ear design for isolation. The Sony is lighter and swivels flat, but it's more of a travel-and-calls headphone.
Sony's feature list mentions smart noise cancellation and the spec sheet lists active noise cancellation as the noise control method. Keep expectations realistic, though — it's an on-ear plastic design, so isolation won't match over-ear cans. The Philips, by contrast, uses passive sound isolation only.
The Sony WH-CH510, clearly. It has a built-in microphone with hands-free calling and voice assistant support. The Philips spec sheet doesn't list a microphone, so it's a listening-first pair.
Only the Philips TAH4205. It has a 3.5mm jack, so you can plug in and keep listening. The Sony WH-CH510 has no headphone jack, so once it's out of charge you'll need to plug it in and wait.
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